None of his
successors, not even Cesare Borgia, rivalled the colossal guilt of
Ezzelino; but the example once set was not forgotten, and his fall led
to no return of justice among the nations and served as no warning to
future transgressors.
It was in vain at such a time that St. Thomas Aquinas, born subject of
Frederick, set up the theory of a constitutional monarchy, in which the
prince was to be supported by an upper house named by himself, and a
representative body elected by the people. Such theories found no echo
outside the lecture - room, and Frederick and Ezzelino were and remain
for Italy the great political phenomena of the thirteenth century.
Their personality, already half legendary, forms the most important
subject of 'The Hundred Old Tales,' whose original composition falls
certainly within this century. In them Ezzelino is spoken of with the
awe which all mighty impressions leave behind them. His person became
the centre of a whole literature from the chronicle of eye-witnesses to
the half-mythical tragedy of later poets.
Despots of the Fourteenth Century
The tyrannies, great and small, of the fourteenth century afford
constant proof that examples such as these were not thrown away. Their
misdeeds cried forth loudly and have been circumstantially told by
historians. As States depending for existence on themselves alone, and
scientifically organized with a view to this object, they present to us
a higher interest than that of mere narrative.
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